Eastern Michigan 6, Toledo 5
Boxscore
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team completed a weekend sweep over the University of Toledo with a 6-5 victory in series finale Sunday, April 28 at Oestrike Stadium.
Trailing 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, EMU (11-32-1, 6-12 MAC) scored four runs during a two-out rally en route to its third straight win over UT (15-27, 3-13 MAC), marking the Eagles' first sweep in Mid-American Conference play since winning three consecutive games at Northern Illinois University, May 12-14, 2017.
Sophomore Jared Kauffman (Springboro, Ohio-Bishop Fenwick) recorded his first three-hit game of the season, going 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, an RBI, a stolen base, and a run scored. Sophomore Nate Jones (Battle Creek, Mich.-Lakeview) finished 2-for-4 with two singles, two RBI, and a run scored, while fellow sophomore Shane Easter (Kalamazoo, Mich.-Comstock) went 2-for-4 with a pair of base hits and two RBI.
Freshman Justin Meis (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Bethel Park) picked up his third win of the season after notching a career-high seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and a walk. Sophomore Luke McGuire (Shelby Township, Mich.-Stevenson) tossed 1.2 innings in relief, allowing one earned run on a hit and a walk while striking out one, and redshirt junior Caleb Hester (Coloma, Mich.-Coloma) preserved the Eagles' slim lead with a six-out save.
EMU started the scoring with a run in the bottom of the opening frame. Junior Zachary Owings (Saline, Mich.-Saline) singled on a hard ground ball up the middle, before fellow junior Nick Jones (Battle Creek, Mich.-Lakeview) lifted a base hit into shallow right-center to put runners on the corners with one out. Nate Jones then belted a sacrifice fly into deep right to drive in Owings and give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
After the Green and White left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, the Rockets knotted the score in their next trip to the plate. Zach Schwartzenberger hit a leadoff double into the gap in right-center, and was safe at home on freshman Danny Murphy's single.
Toledo jumped ahead with a three-spot in the top of the fourth, but the Eagles reclaimed the lead by scoring four runs with two outs during the home half of the fifth. Nate Jones singled up the middle, stole second base, sprinted to third as freshman Taylor Hopkins (Mason, Ohio-Archbishop Moeller) reached on an infield single to the right side, and advanced 90 feet when Hopkins moved into scoring position by swiping second.
After Cruz drew a walk to put Eagles on first and second, Kauffman singled into center to plate Hopkins and cut the deficit to 4-3. With Kauffman and Cruz on second and third, respectively, Easter followed with a base hit to center that knocked in both runners and put EMU in front, 5-4.
The Eagles manufactured another run to double their advantage in the bottom of the sixth. Redshirt sophomore Jeff Timko (Rochester Hills, Mich.-Brother Rice) was plunked and used a wild pitch and a stolen base to reach third. Nate Jones eventually added a two-out single through the left side to score Timko and make it a 6-4 contest.
Toledo notched a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to close the gap to 6-5, and nearly pulled even an inning later. Freshman Darryn Davis went the other way for a leadoff double down the left-field line, advancing a base when freshman Ryan Thompson laid a sacrifice bunt toward the third-base side. Sophomore Andrew Compton then had a chance to level the score on a fly ball to right, only for Nate Jones to throw out Davis at the plate to retire the side.
The Rockets had the potential tying run on third with one out in the top of the ninth, but the Eagles held on to finish a three-game sweep over their MAC West counterparts.
Eastern will travel to the Buckeye State for a midweek game at Youngstown State University, Wednesday, May 1, at 1 p.m. before resuming Mid-American Conference action when it travels to Kalamazoo for a three-game weekend series against Western Michigan University, Fri.-Sun., May 3-5.
Ohio 1, Kent State 0
Boxscore
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio Baseball team (15-26, 9-9 MAC) shutout Kent State (21-20, 9-7 MAC), 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium.
Coming off a complete game last weekend, Senior RHP Kenny Ogg (Indianapolis, Ind.) tossed 8.0 innings of shutout baseball. Ogg struck out five batters and allowed just five hits and two walks. Ogg was the game's winner, improving to 3-6 this season.
"I can't say enough about the performance (Kenny Ogg) gave us today," head coach Rob Smith said. "We needed a senior to put us on his back and he absolutely did that. The last two starts he's been really great for us."
"It felt good today," Ogg said. "We definitely needed some zeros and we definitely needed that win for the conference standings."
Sophomore LHP Brett Manis (Port Huron, Mich.) earned his sixth save of the season after closing the door in the ninth. Ogg allowed one hit and struck out one batter, the final out of the game.
Sophomore INF Treyben Funderburg (Beavercreek, Ohio) drove in Ohio's only run of the game on an infield single. Funderburg ended the game 2-for-3 with two singles and an RBI.
Sophomore INF Aaron Levy (Cincinnati, Ohio) scored the only Ohio run after reaching on a walk.
Senior INF Rudy Rott (Holmen, Wis.) put Levy in scoring position with a single in the first inning and ended his day 1-for-3 with a single. Sophomore CF Sebastian Fabik (Lebanon, Ohio) also had a single.
Funderburg put Ohio on the board in the bottom of the first with an infield single that scored Levy. Levy reached on a walk and Rott moved Levy to third base with a single to right.
Ogg tossed 8.0 scoreless innings until Manis shut the door in the ninth. KSU got a runner on first but Manis struck out Alex Ronnebaum and Mathews was caught stealing on the same pitch. An error put John Hollander on second base but Manis struck out the final batter of the game to get the save.
"You have to credit Tanner Piechnick today," Smith added. "He did a tremendous job behind the plate today. He was understanding handling Kenny (Ogg) today. To get that slider that was basically in the dirt, pick that and at least get a throw down there to give us a chance to get that runner was a big time play."
Ohio will return to action next weekend when the Bobcats host Miami. The series opener at Bob Wren Stadium will take place on Friday at 6 p.m.
Northern Illinois 13, Miami 3
Boxscore
OXFORD, OH – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored 11 runs in the final three innings Sunday afternoon to defeat the Miami RedHawks 13-3 Sunday afternoon at McKie Field, and take the series from Miami for the third consecutive season.
"This was a huge series win on the road," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "We have been waiting to see this performance out of our team for a while now. We excelled on the mound, defensively, and at the plate."
NIU (14-29, 10-8 MAC) opened the scoring in the top of the second. Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) and Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) strung together back-to-back singles with one out. Josh Mutter (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) then stepped up and hit a single to left center, scoring Smith from second base to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) drew a walk to load the bases. Miami starting pitcher Jack Corbell held NIU to that lone run by getting a groundout to end the inning.
The Huskies put another run on the board in the top of the third. With Nick Drobushevich (Moline, Ill./Moline) on second after stealing the base with two outs, Smith smashed a triple to right center to bring in Drobushevich and make the score 2-0. Miami (31-12, 12-6 MAC) had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. A Landon Stephens ground-rule double, followed by walks to Jordan Stephens and Colin Shepherd, loaded the bases with two outs. NIU starting pitcher Ryan Anderson (Palatine, Ill./McHenry C.C.) ended the threat by getting Parker Massman to foul out to Tommy Szczasny (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) at third base.
Anderson threw four shutout innings before Nate Thomas (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) entered the game in the fifth and threw two scoreless frames of his own. NIU gave itself some breathing room in the top of the seventh. Alex Rodriguez (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) singled to right field off of RedHawks reliever Tyler Bosma with one out, then got to second base on a passed ball. McKermitt then singled to right field, followed by a walk to Szczasny to load the bases. Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Illinois/Parkland College) reached on an error that made the score 3-0. Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) then singled to left field, bringing in McKermitt and Szczasny to give NIU a 5-0 lead.
NIU took advantage of two early errors in the eighth inning to score six runs and go up 11-0. With the score 7-0, Drubushevich hit a two-run single to score Joyce and Szczasny. With the bases loaded and two outs, Larson drew a walk to score Dunham and make the score 10-0. Drobushevich then scored on a wild pitch for NIU's 11th run of the day. Miami scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the Huskies responded with a two-run single by Drobushevich in the top of the ninth to make the score 13-3.
"It was a great start from Ryan [Anderson] combined with our bullpen of Nate Thomas and Ty Jandrowski," Kunigonis said. "Offensively, we did a great job adding runs late when we needed them the most."
Joyce, Drobushevich, Smith, and Mutter each had two hits in the game. Drobushevich had his second four-RBI game of the year as Dunham added three RBI. Every Huskie in the lineup Sunday drew at least one walk, as NIU got 11 free passes in total. Anderson allowed four hits in four scoreless innings. Thomas earned his second win of the season while throwing a season-high three innings. Ty Jandrowski (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) got the final six outs, allowing just one hit.
NIU returns to Ralph McKinzie Field on Friday, May 3 to open a three-game series against the Ball State Cardinals. First pitch is at 3 p.m.
Central Michigan 11, Western Michigan 8
Boxscore
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Zach Kohn shined out of the bullpen and a patient Central Michigan offense finally caught and passed Western Michigan on Sunday as the Chippewas posted an 11-8 Mid-American Conference baseball victory over the Broncos at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The win gave the Chippewas a sweep of the three-game series over their archrivals and kept them in second place in the MAC, percentage points behind Ball State. The Chippewas, 31-12 overall, are 13-5 in league play. Ball State is 12-4 in the MAC after sweeping three games from Bowling Green over the weekend.
It marked CMU's first sweep of the Broncos since 2015.
"I guess we weren't thinking a lot about sweeping," first-year CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "It was great to get all three wins. We really challenged our guys to treat every game the same way. Anytime you can beat a team three times in a row, it's not easy to do. Every team has a competitive quality, and has good matchups. I'm just proud of the guys for staying consistent all weekend long."
The Chippewas trailed 8-7 and then got a pair of two-run singles, one from Chase Rollin and the other from Griffin Lockwood-Powell, in the bottom of the seventh to finally take the lead for good.
Kohn (4-3), the third Chippewa pitcher, earned the victory with four strong innings of relief. He allowed one run on two hits, walked three and struck out five.
Grant Frazer worked the ninth for his second save.
Chippewa leadoff man Zavier Warren had two hits including a two-run homer, his seventh round-tripper of the season.
Zach Gilles and Lockwood-Powell both had two singles and a triple – five of CMU's 11 hits went for extra bases – and Lockwood-Powell finished with three RBI.
"(This sweep) gives us momentum going into our next series and our next games," said Warren, a sophomore who is hitting .389, tops among Chippewa regulars. "But it also feels a little better because it was against Western Michigan."
It was another solid outing for Kohn, a junior right-hander who has allowed just two earned runs in his last seven appearances, covering 11 2/3 innings. He has allowed six hits and has a 1.61 earned run average over that span.
"Zach has really worked hard here this semester to prepare and to put himself in a position to be successful," Bischel said. "It's really fun to see when a guy struggles for a while, works through it, and get's it going. That's pretty cool."
The Chippewas go to Bowling Green (13-26, 6-12 MAC) for a three-game MAC series next weekend.
Ball State 2, Bowling Green 1
Boxscore
MUNCIE - For any team to pursue on any level of baseball to pursue a championship, it takes every man on the roster. With BSU's regular Sunday starter on the shelf, sophomore fireballer Kyle Nicolas stepped up and threw his best game. With their starting middle infielders out with injuries, the Cardinals saw a pair of freshmen step up and collect the game-winning hits.
The next man up mantra is working for Ball State, which beat Bowling Green 2-1 on Sunday to clinch a series sweep. Ball State is now alone atop the MAC standings, in a virtual tie but with an edge in winning percentage against Central Michigan. CMU, however, holds the tie-breaker vs. Ball State.
Nicolas, a projected weekend starter heading into the season who emerged as the team's closer, struck out a career-high 11 and pitched into the 8th inning in what turned out to be an exciting duel with Bowling Green's Chase Antle. The two pitchers traded zeroes and racked up strikeouts when BSU broke free in the bottom of the 7th. Ryan Peltier, a freshman starting at 3rd base, smacked a double that scored pinch runner Langston Ginder for the go-ahead run. The next batter, freshman Justin Conant hitting in the No. 9 spot, then pushed a base hit to score Peltier for a 2-0 BSU lead.
A trio of relievers got the final 6 outs in relief of Nicolas, who earned his 2nd win of the season. Nick Floyd picked up his 4th save.
Antle had a no-hitter through 4.1 innings before Chase Sebby broke it up with a double to left. Antle took the tough-luck loss after pitching his best game of the season for the Falcons (13-26, 6-12). He fanned 10 over 6 innings and allowing just a pair of hits.
Nicolas allowed just 3 hits and walked 3 in his scoreless outing that lasted 118 pitches.
Nolan Gazouski made his first appearance since Feb. 17, striking out a batter with runners on to end the 8th. He came on and made a clutch pitch after Lukas Jaksich struck out a pair of hitters to start the 8th.
On Tuesday, Ball State faced the nation's top home run hitting team in Indiana. After facing that challenge, Cardinals pitchers fashioned a 1.67 ERA during this weekend's series. Ball State struck out 39 Bowling Green batters in 27 innings while allowing just 15 hits and 5 runs. Bowling Green batted .161 during their weekend in Muncie.
Ball State, which entered the weekend 3rd in the nation in strikeouts per 9 innings, has struck out 12 or more in 6 of the last 8 games. Last season, the Cardinals recorded a school-record 560 strikeouts. With 10 regular season games left, the Cards already
